Because God is the subject who acts upon me in worship, my participation is not reduced to verbal response or to singing. Rather, my participation is living in the pattern of the one who is revealed in worship. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006),...Read More
Bread and wine disclose the union we have with Jesus . . . not a mere standing but a true and real participation that is lived out in this life as we become the story of God in this world. . . . We move from a delightful contemplation of all that bread and wine...Read More
Here are the recordings of the Opening Convocation sermon by Dr. Dinelle Frankland, the Presidential Address by Dr. Jim Hart, and the sermon from the Service of Healing and Communion by DWS student, Stephen Bomar, from the January 2014 On-Campus Intensive Session.Read More
In order to be nourished by Christ at bread and wine, most Christians I know will have to go through a paradigm shift. . . . Step into the story of God and see Eucharistic bread and wine from within the story. . . . You live in a supernatural world of wonder and mystery....Read More
Worship prayer does God’s history in this world using the language that is particular and peculiar to the Christian story. The language of prayer is the language of creation, fall, covenant, Passover, tabernacle, prophetic utterance, incarnation, death, resurrection, church, baptism, Eucharist, eschaton. These words . . . are not generic. They are the specific words...Read More
In the early church the public worship of the church was a prayer of praise and thanksgiving directed not to the people but to God. Seeing worship as prayer is a paradigm shift from the current presentational notion of worship. . . . Worship as prayer shapes who we are. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine...Read More
Many [people] think worship arises from inside themselves. Worship, like spirituality, springs forth from the story of God. Worship does God’s story. It proclaims God’s story in the reading and preaching of the Word; in prayer, the church prays for the world God has reclaimed; in the Eucharist, the church ascends into the heavens and...Read More
Worship needs both truth and passion. Truth without passion is dry. Passion without truth is empty. Where do we go to find both truth and passion? I suggest recovering worship as the proclamation and enactment of God’s story. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006),...Read More
The January 2014 on-campus intensive session begins today, January 8, as new and returning students arrive in Orange Park. New Student Orientation begins at 9:00 AM; students will meet at the IWS Office (151 Kingsley Avenue) before going together to the Orientation location. Returning students should be sure to arrive by 3:30 PM for the...Read More
Biblical worship tells and enacts [God’s] story. Narcissistic worship, instead, names God as an object to whom we offer honor, praise, and homage. Narcissistic worship is situated in the worshiper, not in the action of God that the worshiper remembers through Word and table. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life...Read More
